new eye candy

[stumpjumper 3]

in progress

[Olham 164]

Stump, you always come up with great new stuff!

And I must say: sorry for not getting the Albatros water plane skinned yet; I just have too

much to do, and the spare time, I wanted to do some flying.

 

How long would you say does it take to learn GMAX so far, that one could build a Roland C.III,

for example? I would really like to learn this.

[Rickitycrate 10]

Stump, am I looking at a helicopter?

[stumpjumper 3]

The world first real helicopter was built in Austria-Hungary during the last stage of World War One. Yet on 1916 major Stephan Petrochy proposed idea of replacing observation balloons by a new-type construction. He suggested that helicopter would be more reliable and dangerous like hydrogenium-filled balloons.

Initially new helicopter planned with installation of 300 hp electric Austro Daimler motor, but this decision was wrong because construction was too heavy.

In final view PKZ-2 (PKZ for Petrochy-Karman-Zurovec whose ideas and decisions gave a life to helicopter) was a counter-rotating machine with two rotors and three 100 hp Gnome rotary engines; construction was light and easy for transportation purposes. PKZ-2 was a tethered helicopter with tethering cables, retracted by winches from the ground. Observer disposed in special cupola-liked basket; he could leave cupola with parachute, if it was necessary.

Test flights of PKZ-2 began on April 1918. More powerful Le Rhones soon replaced unreliable Gnomes. Helicopter performed more than 30 successful flights but some problems like stability-on-flight still unsolved.

On June 10, 1918 PKZ-2 was demonstrated for military commanding officers; two flights among others were with observers basked (but without observer). On same day helicopter crashed from height and slightly damaged. Military commanding refused from PKZ-2 for high danger to observer. On June 21 project was canceled.

Finally, PKZ-2 was a revolutionary design for its time. Only forty years later counter-rotating scheme was introduced on Kamov helicopters in the Soviet Union: other countries not adopted this scheme generally. And though PKZ-2 never used operationally, it really was a first real helicopter and only helicopter which flied on the sky of World War One.

[Hauksbee 103]

performed more than 30 successful flights but some problems like stability-on-flight still unsolved.

Nice work, Stump. But I can't help but feel that the stability problem, at least in part, was due to putting the observer above the props instead of below. As I recall from an earlier thread, there are some CFS3 problems with making this work. Are they overcome yet?

[stumpjumper 3]

PHILLIP M SEEMED TO HAVE MADE IT WORK HE RELSED A FEW OF THE WW2 HELOS HE MADE BUT ALAS CANT FIND THEM ANYWHERE, WOULD LIKED TOHAVE SEEN HIS AIR AND CFG TO SEE HOW HE DID IT, IT SHOULD BE KNOW THO THAT THIS BEAST WAS TETHERED

[Flyby PC 23]

I might have one of the Helo's Stump, but I'll have to dig about to find it.

[Flyby PC 23]

Even better....

 

http://freewarecfs3.webs.com/aircraft.htm

[Cavaliere57 0]

Olham,about learning a 3D modeling program,I advise you that's a hard and steep road.....

I used to use 3D Studio Max for modeling Rome Total War,and Medieval II Total War stuff,and G Max for Microsoft Train Simulator,

and it was a real, time and mental energy, "draining" thing....

Not forgetting all the post modeling Photoshop work, for texture maps and skins.....so be prepared....if you are going to try it seriously!

[Olham 164]

Yes - all I seem to get is warnings....

[Bullethead 12]

How long would you say does it take to learn GMAX so far, that one could build a Roland C.III, for example? I would really like to learn this.

 

I can only suggest that you download the thing (it's free) and a number of tutorials, and give it a shot. I started on this myself a couple weeks ago and (with some help from Stumpy and others), have gotten to where I can stumble along. I've got a pretty good start on a Bristol M.1C now.

 

The tutorials can teach you a couple of techniques and get you familiar with the basic workings of Gmax, but practice is what you need because there's a lot of skill involved. It's not just learning the Gmax commands, it's knowing how to use them in such a way that you get what you want with the least amount of polies and effort, and doing things in such an order that you don't paint yourself into a corner along the way. Getting this down is where the real time comes in, at least IMHO

 

On top of this, making the model is bewilderingly complex when you 1st see what you have to do. It's not just making the shape of the plane, it's breaking this up into all the various pieces, the damage boxes and stubs of shot-off wings, and all the levels of detail needed for viewing it at different distances, plus the smoke emitters, the virtual cockpit, etc. And all of this has to be hooked together in the right way. Fortunately, tutorials and the CFS3 SDK explain a lot of this. But it's still a lot of work.

 

Making the 3D model is just the beginning, however. You also have to make a flight model for it so it flies realistically (the .air file), and takes damage like you want (the .xdp file). As I understand things, it takes vast amount of flighttesting to get these down, but I'll burn that bridge when I come to it--I'm just getting started on the model itself. Seems like you have to buy the program Air Wrench ($20) to make the .air file.

 

Then, of course, you have to make a skin for it. From scratch, without a stock skin to use as a starting point. But that seems the least daunting of it all, given that I've made dozens of skins already.

 

So, all I can say is, get the stuff and give it a try. You'll soon find out if it's something you want to do. Get the CFS3 SDKs from Microsoft and use the version of Gmax that comes with it. This is vital, because otherwise you can't export models in M3D format, which is what CFS3/OFF uses. Over in the Skins and 3D Modeling Help forum here, Stumpy's recommended a good tutorial to get you started, which itself recommends a couple of others. And when all else fails, ask one of the experienced modelers here for help .

[Olham 164]

Sorry, if my brain is not awake yet, but what's the CFS3 SDKs ?

[Check Six 2]

Olham,

 

Software Development Kit = SDK

 

Good luck. Your work on skins is marvellous, I'm sure that given time you'll excel at modelling too.